Friday, February 26, 2016

Oops. I finished this at the beginning of the week and forgot to
write my review about it!

The How to Train Your Dragon books have stayed surprisingly
entertaining. The author is doing a good
job at mixing up the plot and characters.
I really enjoyed this one because it didn’t really involve a “bad guy”. It still had drama and a climax, but they
weren’t fighting off one of Hiccup’s arch enemies – though he may have just
made another!

The addition of Kamikaze to the story has been
refreshing. She’s a lot of fun and I
like having the girl’s perspective on things – even though she’s the least
girliest girl I’ve ever seen! She really
pushes Hiccup and Fishlegs when they want to wimp out and she is actually
pretty brave.

I loved the Stealth Dragon in this story. Not only was his
accent super cute (love this narrator!!!) but he was just a lot of fun. The
addition of Kamikaze’s dragon was a nice touch too. Poor Toothless has a little
crush on her! I hope we see her more
throughout the series now.

I also really liked that Stoick is starting to be accepting
of his son and see that just because he doesn’t have the typical Viking build
and strength, that he has gone through some pretty seriously scary situations
and come out on the other side thanks to his quick wits.

The best part about this story? It takes place in a library!
And Hiccup tries to get books unbanned. He tries to impose how helpful books
are for knowledge. Perhaps this is why
he becomes the last Great Viking Hero.

I actually feel like I like these more and more as the
series progresses. I hope they don’t get boring.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to find ways
to save money. So far I’ve come up with
3 really solid ways to do this. I wanted to share them with others. If you sign
up with these referral codes, you’ll also get some bonus cash.

Ebates - I’ve been using Ebates for several
years now and I love it. It’s the easiest way to get cash back. All you need to
do is create your account and then install the “Cash Back Button” on your
browser. Then, when you do your shopping online, all you need to do is either
start at the Ebates website and then click to link to the merchant’s website….
OR if you have the button, you can go directly to the merchant’s website and
Ebates will notify you if and what the cash back is available. You just need to
click to activate it for that store. It’s THAT easy. Once you complete your
purchase, it will take a few days for the credit to appear in your pending cash
back. They send checks quarterly. You can also get bonuses for referring
friends. There are also several times a
year where the cash back is increased – specifically around Black Friday. I
just received my check for the time period of Black Friday 2015, and I got
$154! If you haven’t signed up for
Ebates, use this link
to do so now and you will earn a $10 bonus when you make your first purchase of
$25 or more.

Ibotta
– This is an application that I had signed up for a long time ago and just
never used. I think back then I thought it was too much work and I don’t buy
name brand products very often. However,
I decided to log in again recently and it’s actually pretty simple. All you
need to do is log in to the app and browse the rebates. You have to either watch
a video or answer a short question to unlock the rebate. Go to the store (any
store – there are more than just grocery stores) and buy the things in the
rebates. Then you just verify that you bought them. For Walmart, it’s super
easy. You just scan the QR code on your receipt. For other stores I’ve had to scan the product
and then take a picture of the receipt. But still worth it. And it isn’t only name brand items. There are
several rebates for “Any brand”. While “Any
Brand” rebates don’t count toward bonuses and are generally a lower dollar
amount than name brand, you can still get cash back by buying what you
want. They also have bonuses and
teamwork goals – you can team together with your friends and work toward
getting even more bonuses. I’ve been
using it for about 2 weeks now and I am up to $24. Use this link
to earn $10 when you redeem your first rebate.

Inbox Dollars– I was skeptical about this one at first. Though when I was in high
school I had been signed up for a research company who would send me products
to test and then I would answer a survey about them. It was pretty easy cash. So I thought, what
the heck. I like having my opinion heard – let’s try it. This is actually super
easy and there are SO many ways to make more cash than just by answering
surveys. The surveys give you the most bang for your time though. They are a
variety of lengths and worth a variety of cash.
There are the main surveys and then there are also daily surveys.
Whenever you are disqualified for a survey you will get a spin on the Spin
& Win wheel. You have the chance to win sweepstakes entries, cash ($0.01, $0.05,
or $0.25), or no win. The sweepstakes allow you to enter sweepstakes to earn
giftcards or cash bonuses – I have not won one yet. There are WINIT codes that give you freebies
if you follow their social media accounts – I’ve gotten extra sweeps entries
and today I got a $0.01 cash bonus. But you can also earn cash for confirming
paid emails (this means you just click the link), performing searches through
the inbox dollars search engine, watching videos, playing games, completing
offers, printing coupons, etc. It’s really easy. I’ve been using it for
probably about 2 months now and I’m almost at my first $30 payout. Use this linkto signup and earn a $5 bonus.

Those are all the money saving tips I have for now. If you
have others that you use that you think are a great easy way to save some extra
money, please leave it in the comments section! I would love to find more ways
to save even more money!

Friday, February 19, 2016

I like that every story has introduced a new character. The
world is getting so big now. I thought Humongous was an interesting character.
I wasn’t sure which way he was going to side.

I really enjoyed the quest involving not only Hiccup and
Fishlegs, but also Kamikaze. She is hilarious! I love her. I’m interested to
see if she stays the only girl in the story. I really like Astrid from the
movies, but I think she may have been completely made up. Kamikaze brings out the bravery in the boys
though – mostly because she teases them about being scaredy-cats. She’s also just super funny.

This story was a little more complex than the other stories
have been. It got fairly emotional too. It makes you question whether Hiccup’s
mom really loves Stoick. I think she does, but if definitely makes you think.
And it makes you have compassion for a guy you’re not sure who’s side he’s on.

I liked that they introduced different dragons too – riding dragons,
fire dragons. I like learning about all the different types of dragons in this
world.

I really enjoyed this story since it had more complex themes
– not that I don’t enjoy the other books as well. But this one just seemed a
little bit more grown up than the others. I’m interested to see how the rest of
the series plays out and how Humongous and Alvin the Treacherous come back in to
Hiccup’s life.

I would also like to see Hiccup’s mom! We got a glimpse of her in this story –
because she’d barely been mentioned. What quests does she go on? Why is she never
around? The epilogue was sad too!!! Very heavy and emotional. Really enjoyed this
book.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

I picked this book up at the annual massive VNSA used booksale here in Phoenix this weekend. I picked it up because the illustrations were beautiful and I flipped through and the words seemed long enough for my child's bedtime routine, which is starting to get a little longer now that she's getting older.

I didn't realize at the time that this is actually a Christian book. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened to the front page and there was a bible verse. The whole story is actually about the creation, fall, and redemption of man. It is done in a beautiful way to get children involved. It's also on a much lower level that they can understand. I was very happy with this book and so glad that I picked it up - unknowingly.

I highly recommend this book to any Christian family that has young children learning the concepts of their religion.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

This was a pretty good addition to the Spiderwick
world. The one thing that I don’t like about these books is that the
ending just ends. The authors basically write one long story and cut it in to
three sections. You’re never sure when
the book is going to end.

The new characters were likeable enough. I’m not super
attached to either one of them, but they’re decent enough. I like seeing how
other characters react to the faerie world, how others get the sight, etc.

I did not like the nixie. I’m not sure if the nixie itself I
don’t like, or the way the narrator portrayed her voice. It was super annoying.
I almost want to find a printed version of the book to see if it was printed
that way as well.

These are good books to listen to while driving to and from work. They’re short
enough that I can get through the whole book before it’s due back to the
library; they’re a good distraction from stressing about traffic; and they’re
not intense enough to need total focus on them – which is good because I drive
in rush hour.

I really liked that the original characters pop up and/or
are referenced. It just reminds me that I prefer those characters over the new
characters – but maybe that’s just because no one can be as good as the
original?

I’m really happy that by book 4, the plot seemed to mix up a
little bit. That was always a gripe with the Lemony Snicket books for me. While this book still follows another
harrowing adventure for Hiccup, this book found us traveling not with Fishlegs,
but with Kamakaze.

A couple other new characters were introduced as well. And
in addition to this, it wasn’t the same villain. I really liked the references to the “mythological
potato” and “America”. Haha. It was a nice little plot twist at the end; though
I was still pretty much expecting that.

I also am proud that Stoick comes to an
understanding at the end of the book as well. Overall, this book was a very
good development in the series. I can’t
wait until my daughter is old enough to read them.

And I just want to reiterate how amazing this narrator is! It's amazing how many distinctly different voices he can create, and that he can keep them all straight!

Friday, February 5, 2016

I have had a lot of books sitting on my TBR shelf for a while, and physically on my bookshelf that I haven't read yet. I recently discovered the 2016 TBR Pile Reading Challenge at Bookish Lifestyle. This will be a great way to not only make sure I work on my TBR shelf, but also to make new blogger friends! I may have a lofty goal, but even if I'm able to knock a few of these off the list I'll be happy.

Having a challenge though, and perhaps bringing more traffic to my blog, will be good motivation to get this done. I hope some of you will join me in this challenge and link up to it as well!

2) Current list of books I want to read from my TBR Shelf: - Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - The Scorpio Races - Seraphina - Shadow and Bone - The Maze Runner - Grave Mercy - The Raven King (Raven Cycle #4) - Dangerous Lies - The Trap (The Hunt #3)

“For a moment the
image before us is frozen: our world, our lives, reduced to a handful of broken
stars half lost in uncharted space”.

I find that sci-fi novels are generally not my cup of tea. However, These
Broken Stars blew me away! This is a
young adult sci-fi adventure, focusing on survival. The cover initially drew me
in, the summary blurb sounded interesting, and once I read my friends reviews
on goodreads, I knew I needed to try it out.

I was hooked within two pages. I fell in love with Tarver at
the very beginning and I couldn’t wait to see how his story played out. Lilac
took a little more time to warm up to. Once they were on the planet and she
started letting go of her past and expectations, I really started getting attached
to her.

The book moved really quickly. I was surprised how early the
crash actually happened. The description of the two watching the Icarus fall
out of the sky was beautiful and horrifying.
This is more of a survival tale with sci-fi woven in. I have discovered that I really enjoy
survival stories – seeing the skills, ingenuity and strength people go through
to survive is amazing.

Tarver and Lilac have a rough time getting along at
first. They both have preconceptions and
stereotypes they are dealing with. They are also both going through a little
PTSD after having crashed landed on a planet, and being the only survivors.
Lilac has lost her cousin and her friends, and that is very hard on her.

While they are stranded together for most of the novel, it
never got boring and you watched as their relationship transformed from
dislike, to friendship, to love. It did not feel rushed and I found myself
begging for their first kiss as much as they were.

I was happy to figure out the mystery of the planet along
with the characters. It never felt like the characters knew more than I did.
Everything was revealed in a decent pace and I was aching to know the whole
truth. As they unravel the horrifying
truth surrounding the planet and what caused the Icarus to crash, I felt the
same emotions as them.

Most of the loose ends were tied up, though pretty close to
the end of the novel. While the ending was satisfying, I wish there was a little
more wrap up to the story. I was blown away by the last scene in the book,
though I probably should have expected it. I am looking forward to reading more
books in this series. It is an interesting concept to have the same bad guy but
with different characters. I’m interested to see if they can pull off another
stunning story with wonderful new characters.